Repeater Maintenance March 2008

Members of the RARC Technical Committee conducted a technical inspection and maintenance session at the WØMXW 146.82 repeater site the morning of Saturday March 22, 2008. Rob KCØFOW, John NØHZN, Steve WØSTV, Dave KCØUCN, and Robert KØRDA were present. The following maintenance tasks were performed: The team checked the repeater and reseated all of the RF connections. Checked fuses and connections. Photographed equipment for inventory purposes. The backup battery was determined to be dead and was replaced. The weather station battery was replaced and operation was checked. The SWR between the cans and the antenna was checked and it was low (~1.1) The power out of the cans was lower than expected The power out of the PA was lower than expected, which explained the low overall output. The repeater was returned to service at the end of the inspection. Future work required at the site includes: Suspect that the output transistors on the PA are starting to fail; replace, probably around $100 (SWAG) to get parts. Check the fan on the PA to ensure that it is working properly so that it does not overheat this summer. Run the repeater on the battery for a day or so to make sure that the battery and charging systems are working. Purchase additional 30A blade fuses, these are slightly longer than standard 30A automotive fuses so are unusual. Clean the room of dust bunnies and other trash. Spray the tower base with Roundup to clean out the weeds before they take over the place. Thanks to everyone who was there.

To see more of the WØMXW 146.82 repeater site, John NØHZN provides a tour of the site, and demonstrates a couple of the repeater controller functions.

Update April 7, 2008

John NØHZN, Steve WØSTV, Dave KCØUCN, and Rob KCØFOW were out at the repeater site for 2 hrs last Saturday, April 5th. The purpose of this was to take a mobile out to the site and check the cans. They checked the cans and the lightning arrestor and determined that neither of these were contributing to the power drop that we were seeing prior to entering the antenna. Additional measurements of power and SWR were taken out of the repeater and power amp and they determined that the power amp was not amplifying. The PA was removed and taken away for testing and testing has determined that there is an issue.

KCØUCN is still doing diagnostics to determine what is failing in the PA. Right now the repeater is running 3-5W out. There is some confusion about exactly what the output of the repeater is, and there is the thought that the repeater itself has a fluctuating output level, but without some more direct measurements, it is not possible to make that determination.

Update April 11, 2008

Dave KCØUCN and Rob KCØFOW made a quick visit to the repeater site today. They checked the power output of the repeater and it was still in the 3-5W range. Mike NØMGY donated, for a short time, a power/swr meter (with manual, cable, and an N adapter) that they have placed at the output of the repeater, and the repeater output has been bumped to 20W. The SWR is acceptable and is below 1.3. The meter is positioned so that a quick stop at the repeater site can be used to check the power output and SWR

Parts for the power amp should be in early next week.